I deeply regret studying here August 21, 2023

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

This program was way too difficult for a study abroad program. Throughout the whole program it was made very clear that no matter how hard we studied for our exams it was extremely possible that we could fail and we were taking the hardest classes available in our major that many French students fail. However, the Middlebury administration was completely unsympathetic.

On-site administration of your program

There was no on-site administration, and the director David Paoli is based out of Paris and was honestly very rude to me and caused me a lot of stress.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

My experience with my host family was incredibly bad and so toxic that I had to shell out around a thousand euros to a therapist to find conflict resolution strategies. My host mother screamed at me, disciplined me, and did not feed me enough, yet would be upset if I bought too much food for myself, wasted any food (even if I paid for it, she would berate me if I wasted food), and berating me for leaving my room messy. She would also frequently go into my room when i was not there and move things around. She also left a very passive aggressive note forcing me to unload the dishwasher in the middle of my very stressful exams, when I would have been completely happy to do chores at any other time. I considered moving out many times but the only reason I stayed was my host dad was able to articulate that I needed more food.

I had to have multiple mental breakdowns at the dinner table in front of my entire host family for them to understand that I needed more food and more protein than they were giving me, and with my host mother's attitude towards food waste I had to throw out any expired food in different Poitiers trash cans so she would not see me wasting any food.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

It is very hard to get the French students to be friends with you because their circles are very closed off, so you really have to force your way in.The international students are much friendlier and much more willing to make new friends.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I did not have any experience with the French healthcare system

Besides fairly frequent cat-calling at night and a lot of people always trying to stop you outside the Carrefour/bio-coop to ask for money/something else, I felt very safe.

I would have gone to Barcelona and lived by myself. This program was so bad and caused me so much strife that it made me not want to even speak French, despite the fact that I have studied it for fourteen years

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

We were forced to speak french at all times

Select all that apply

• Host Family

Select all that apply

• Americans
• Host Family

Select all that apply

• Local Students

• French language improvement

• Niceness of administration and understanding
• Choosing nicer host families
• Guaranteeing that students will pass their classes

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